Type-writer escapement.



No. 682,758. Patented-sept. I7, |901. c. SEARS.

TYPE WRITER ESCAPEMENT.

'Application filed Mar. 6. 1899.)

(no Modem 2 sheets-sheet k y". f d I /Jdl zal v A L C I @L O .K

J` o( QQ) ll lll ll lvm YH: Nonms vzzisco, Priora-uma. WASHINGTON, n. c.

No. 682,758. Patented Sept. I7, I90l.

l C. SEARS.

TYPE WRITER ESCAPEMENT. (Aplicacion med Mar. s, 1899.)

(No Model.)

2 Sheets-$hest 2.

all

mr., ma

xarnorws nmns ca. Pnomumo.. wAsNmuroN. u. 1:y

i UNITED" STATES PATENT OFFICE.

CHARLES SEARS, OF CLEVELAND, OHIO.

TYPE-WRITER ESCAPEM ENT.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 682,758, dated September 17, 1901.

Application tied March e, 1ste.'

To @ZZ whom, it may 0071/067711:

Be itknown that I, CHARLES SEARS, a citizen of the United States, residing at Cleveland, in the county of Cuyahoga and State of Ohio, have invented a certain new and useful Improvement in Type-Vriter Escapements,

of which the following is a full, clear, and exact description, reference being had to the accompanying drawings.

The invention relates to the mechanism for controlling the feeding movements of the carl riage of a type-writing machine,` to the end that said, carriage shall move different but definite distances proportional to the width o f the several characters printed.

The invention consists in the construction and combination of parts shown in the drawings and hereinafter described, and pointed l out in the claims.

standing thereof. y tional view on line 2 2 of Fig. l.

l 5 is a vertical sectional view on line 5 '5 of Fig. 4. Fig. 6 is a front view, partly in section, of certain mechanism at the front left corner of Fig. l; and Fig. 7 is a plan view of the mechanism connecting theswinging frame Y, at the front of the machine with the oscillating pawl-carrier.

Certain parts of the invention are applicable for use with any form'of type-writing machine,whether or not it contains shift-keys i and mechanism operated by them for the wellunderstood purpose of adapting a single keylever for printing several diferent characters. I have chosen to illustrate the invention as applied to a Hammond machine containing two shift-keys.

Referring to the parts by letters, A represents the bed-plate, and a represents a bar which is a part of the frame of the machine and extends across the rear end of the machine. The rack-bar B is xed to and forms a part of the carriage. I have not thought it necessary to show any part of the carriage except this rack-bar nor to show allof the means for supporting and guiding the car- 4found in the Hammond machine.

'serai No. 707,866. (No modem riage. Any suitable carriage may be enrployed and any suitable means for supporting and guiding it may be provided-as, for example, the carriage and guides therefor The.

grooved wheels O C are, however, a part'jof the supporting and' guiding 'mechanism for the carriage, the rack-bar being adapted to ride upon them. The carriage is under continuous tension to move it in the feeding direction. It matters not in what manner. or by what mechanism this tension is applied. Ihave shown a commonly-used springbarrel, having external gear-teeth which engage with the rack-bar. The movement of the carriage is prevented or definite movements thereof are permitted by certain escapement mechanism, in which and the mechanism which itoperates and by whichA it is operated my invention is found. A shaft H,

which is suitably mounted,carries a pinion h', which meshes -with the rack. A gear h 'on its end meshes with a gearj on the escapement-shaft J. These gears h and j are removable, and otherjgears of different relative sizes'may be substituted,.whereby the actual movements of -thecarriage due to a given movement of the escapement may be varied.

`A ratchet K is secured to the shaft J. ,An

oscillating pawl-carrier D is mounted on the` same aX'is adjacent to the ratchet. As shown, its hub d5 is mounted on the hub lo of the ratchet, .whereon it is held by the plate 7c'. A spring-pawl d is pivoted to onearm of this pawl-carrier, and it is normally held by its` spring in engagement with the ratchet. An

Varm d', which is rigid with the-paWl-c'arrier,

engages with a stop Ml, which, as shown,is.an adjustable screw which screws through a fixed bracket a2. The force acting upon the carriage is transmitted A'through the described mechanism to the pawl-carrier when pawl d is engaging with the ratchetand said arm d is moved againstthe stop M,fwhereby the movement of all of said parts is stopped. When the pawl d is lifted outof engagement with the ratchet, whereby the'pawl-carrier may move backward independently of the ratchet, a detent N is moved into engagement with the ratchet, whereby the movement of the ratchet is temporarily prevented. A plate E, which is movable radially,or nearly so,

IOO

v`a. A lever P isjalso pivoted to bar a. end has a slot p, which receives a pin n, which projects from detent N. This lever is rocked whenever a key-lever Ris depressed. The mechanism for transmitting motion from "each key-lever to the lever P consists of a 'frame T, which extends over the rear ends of 'l all of the key-levers and is in contact with them.' This frame is fast to rock-shaft t,

and an arm projecting rearwardly from the rock shaft, engages one end of the lever P. Preferably an adjustable screw t2, which screws through the arm t', engages the lever P. The upward movement of the detent N, induced by lever P, carries it into engagement with the ratchet. It likewise lifts the plate E, and this lifts pawl cl out of engagement with the ratchet.

The depression of a key-lever also causes the pawl-carrier to bey moved backward a greater or less distance through the following mechanism; Underneath the front ends of all of the key-levers is a swinging frame, which, as shown, includes a rock-shaft G, two arms g, and a horizontal bar g. On each key-lever is a stub 1', which when the lev`eris depressed is moved into the path of a bar g2, which is movably mounted on the top of bar g, and

these stubs serve as stops to limit the movement of said bar, and consequently of the swinging frame, to which it is movably secured. This bar g2 is notched at the points where it will engage with the stubs when it swings rearward, and lthese notches are of.

Various depth. The distance between the stubs on the key-levers and the parts of the bar which will engage with'them are proportionate to the Widthsv of thel characters which will be printed by the depression of said le,- vers. The stubs mightbe placed at different points on the levers, and the bar might be unnotched if each key was associated with one character only. Theswingingframeisswung rearward after the pawl e has been drawn out of engagement with the ratchet by a spring t3. This rearward movement of the frame is transmitted to the pawl-carrier through a link Q, the bell-crank lever S, a block S', which is pivoted to one arm of the bell-crank lever, and the link V, which is pivoted to block S, and to an arm d3 of the pawlcarrier. Thedepression of any key causes the pawl d to be lifted out of engagement with the ratchet, and thereupon the spring 253% moves the swinging fra-me backward until the top bar g2 strikes the stub on said keylever. This movement is proportionate to the width of the character which is printed by the depression of said lever. This movement of the frame is transmitted, through the described mechanism, to the pawl-carrier D, which is moved backward a distance proportionate to the width of said character. When the key-lever is released, the spring n2, which engages with the detent N, moves it down, and with it the plate E, whereby the pawl d is again allowed to engage with this ratchet. At the same time the detent N is moved out of engagement with said ratchet. The force (in the spring-barrel) acting to move the carriage being stronger than the spring t3, the carriage is moved, whereby the pawl-carrier is moved-back to its home position, in which it is stopped by the 'engagement of the arm d with the stop-pin M. The permitted feed movements of the carriage are therefore always proportionate to the distance which the pawl-carrier is moved from its home position, and this distance is always proportionate to the width of the character.

In many machines each key-lever is associated with two or more characters, which are commonly of different widths-as, for example, a capital letter and a lower-case letter. Shift-keys are provided for determining which letter shall be printed. If the shift-key is not operated, lower-case characters are commonly printed; but when capitals are required the shift-key is depressed before the characterkey is struck. In the machine, as shown, two shift-keys W W' are employed, and therefore each character-key is associated with three characters, this being one of the characteris" tics ofthe Hammond machine, to which I have chosen to apply myinvention. Each' of these three characters associated with each key belong to what may be called different-type systems, the capital letters constituting one system, the lower-case letters another system, and the figures and punctuation-marks a third system. The three characters in these different systems which are associated with the same key-lever may be of different widths, and in most cases they are. Moreover, it is obvious that there is no uniform relationship between the widths of the characters in different systemsassociated 4with the same keylever. For example, there might be associated with one key-lever a capital L, a lower-case 1, and an interrogation-point. The L would be, say, ve units wide, the l two units wide, and the P three units wide. The three characters associated with another key-lever might be a capital M, a lower-case m, which are of substantially the same width, and a comma, which is not more than one-sixth as wide. From the foregoing one will understand what is meant by the statement that the widths of the characters in one system do vnot bear any uniform IOO IIO

the same key-levers.

Yrelationship to the width of the characters in"` another system, which are associated with To adapt the invention for use with such a machine, the notched bar g2 is constructed'so as'to have three parts of its edge associated with each key-lever, and means are provided for moving said bar crosswise of the machine, so as to'br-ing any one of these surfaces into line with the stubs on the key-levers. For example, the three parts g3 g4 g5 of therear edge of the bar are asso-A ciated with the key-lever R, these three parts being diderent distances in front of said stub r. This bar is movable endwise across the machine, so as fo bring any one of these three engaging surfaces or stops into line with the stub or stop on the key-lever with which it is designed to engage. The bar g2 is provided 'with two longitudinal slots g7 g8, through 'i its normal or home position.

' wedge-block Z engages with it.

which the screws gl pass, whereby said bar is secured upon the bar and guided in its endwise movements. A spring acts to move Vthe bar to the left as far as possible, which is The left end of this bar is beveled and an oppositely-beveled This wedge is on the end of an arm a', which is rigidly secured to a rocking frame a', to which`both of the shift-keys are secured. One of the shiftvkeys is adapted to rock the frame a twlceas far as the other. As the frame rocks, this wedge-block acting upon the bar moves it to n the right, so as to bring one or the other of the bearing-surfaces or stops into line with and consequently into operative relationship with/the stub or stop on the key-lever with which it is intended to engage.

Having described my invention, I claiml. I n a type-writing machine having a plurality of systems of printing characters of various widths whereof the widths of the charact-ersv in oneI system have yno uniformprelation to the widths of the 'corresponding characters in the other system, the combination of escapement mechanism, a plurality of keylevers, a shift-key, and mechanism whereby thedepression of any key-lever will cause the printing of the associated character in either system and a concurrent movement of the lescapement mechanism a distance proportionate to the width of the character so printed,

substantially as specified.

'- 2. In a type-writing machine having a pluplurality of series of stop-surfaces, and movable in twodirections, means for moving said stop-bar to bring any series of stop-surfaces thereon into operative position, means oper'- ated by the key-levers to release said escapement mechanism whereby it and the stop-bar move concurrently, a plurality of stops severally associated with said key-levers and adapted to be moved thereby into the path of the stop-surface on the stop-bar which corresponds with the character which is printed by the operation of said key-lever, substantially as specified.

3. In a type-writing machine having a plurality of systems of printing characters of various widths'whereof the widths of the characters in one system have no uniform rela- 'tion to the widths of the correspondingcharacters in the other system, the combination of a swinging frame, a plurality of yseries of stops severally secured to said frame, and means for moving any desired stop of 4either series into operative relation to its coperating stop, withl a plurality of cooperating' stops, o ne associated with and operable-by each key-lever, escapement mechanism connected with the same swinging frame, a plurality of key-levers, and mechanism operated thereby forv releasing said swinging frame,4 substantially as'specied. A r Y f 4. In atype-writing machine having a plurality of systems of printing characters of various widths whereof the widths of thec'harism held in restraint, mechanism whereby it is released by the operation of any key-lever, a plurality of movable stops associated one with each key -lever and movable thereby, `other movable stops of which a plurality are associated with each of the stops first named ,connections between the stops last named and the escapement mechanism ,a shift-key and mechanism whereby it moves the stops last named to bring any of them into operative relationship with that one of the first-named stops with which it is associated, substantially as specified. -1

5. In a type-writin g machine, the combination of a key-lever, a stop operated thereby,

a plurality of stopsl movable in two paths and adapted for engagement with said stops, mechanismV for moving said movable stops in IOO one path to bring either of them into operative relationship with the said stop which'i's operated by the key-lever, escapement mech-` anism connected with said movable" stops,

and mechanism adapted to move said escapement mechanism until it is brought to`a standstill by the engagement ofthe stop which the key-lever operates and that movable stop which is in operative relationship 'to it, sub-` stantially as specified.

-6. In a type-writing machine, the combination of a swinging frame, a notched bar movably secured to said frame, and mechanism for moving the baron said frame, with a plu- IZO rality of movable stops adapted to'be movedseverally into the path of said notched bar,

Y means whereby to move said stops, and movable mechanism which is connected with said frame and whose movements are governed by the movement of said frame, substantially as specied.

7. In a type-writing machine, the combination of a plurality of stops, keys for severally operating said stops, and a notched bar which is movable laterally toward and from said stops and is movable longitudinally to bring dierent surfaces on its edge into line with the several stops, and movable mechanism connected with said bar and adapted to have its movements controlled by the movements of said bar, substantially as specified.

8. In a type-writing machine, the combination of the escapement mechanism, a springactuated Swingin g frame connected therewith and adapted to control its movements, a notched bar movably secured to said frame,

-and means for moving the bar upon said frame, with a plurality of movable keys having stubs projecting into the path of said notched bar, and mechanism whereby the depression of each key releases the escapement mechanism, substantially as specified.

9; In a type-writing. machine, an escapement consisting of a shaft, a ratchet-wheel rigid thereon, a movable plate having a circumferential recess, a detent-pawl connected to said plate, an oscillating pawl-carrier, a pawl carried thereby, said pawl having a projection lying insaid recess, combined with a plurality of fingerkeys, and intermediate mechanism whereby the actuation of said keys moves the said plate, and also moves the l pawl-carrier backward, substantially as described.

10. In a type-writing machine,the combination of a carriage under tension to move it in the feeding direction, a detent-shaft, and mechanism connecting said. shaft and carriage, a ratchet secured to said shaft, an oscillatin g pawl-carrier, a pawl mounted thereon for engagement with the ratchet, a detentpawl, a plate movable transversely to the axis of the shaft and adapted to simultaneously move the pawl out of engagement with the ratchet and the detent into engagement with the ratchet, a plurality of finger-keys having projecting stubs, a spring-actuated swinging frame adapted to engage with the stub on a depressed, key-lever, mechanism connecting said frame and pawl-carrier, and mechanism operated by the finger-keys for moving said plate, substantially as specified.

1I. In a type-writing machine,the combination of a carriage under tension to draw it in the feeding direction, a rack forming a part thereof, a pinion engaging with said rack, an escapement-shaft adapted to be turned by said-pinion, a ratchet secured to the shaft, an oscillating pawl-carrier, a pawl mounted Geeft-sis thereon, a plate movable in a path transverse to the axis of the shaft and adapted to engage With and lift said pawl out of engagement with the ratchet; a detent'pivoted to a fixed support, and pivotally connected with said plate, a stop for the pawl-carrier, a plurality of finger-keys, and intermediate mechanisms, whereby the actuation of said keys moves the said plate, and also moves the pawlcarrier backward, substantially as specified.

12. In atype-writing machine,the combination of a carriage under tension to draw it in the feeding direction, a rack forming a part thereof, a pinion engaging with said rack, an escapementshaft adapted 'to be turned by said pinion, a ratchet secured to the shaft, an oscillating pawl-carrier, a pawl mounted thereon, a plate movable in a path transverse to the axis of the shaft and adapted to engage with and lift said pawl out of engagement with the ratchet, a detent pivoted to a fixed support and pivotally connected with said plate, a stop for the pawl-carrier, a plurality of finger-keys, and intermediate mechanisms, whereby the actuation of said keys moves the said plate, and also moves the pawlcarrier backward a distance proportionate to the width of the corresponding characters, substantially as specified.

I3. Inatype-writingmachine,thecombination of a carriage under tension to draw it in' the feeding direction, a rack forming a part thereof, a pinion engaging with said rack, an escapement-shaft adapted to be turned by said pinion, a ratchet secured to the shaft, an oscillating pawl-carrier, a pawl mounted thereon, a plate movable in a path transverse .to the axis of the shaft and adapted to enn gage with and lift said pawl out of engagement with the ratchet, a detent pivoted to a fixed support, and pivotally connected with said plate, a stop for the pawlcarrier,a springactuated swinging frame, having a notched top bar, mechanism connecting said frame to the pawl-carrier, a plurality of key-levers having stubs which will be moved into the path of said notched bar when the key-levers are depressed, and mechanism actuated by said key-levers for moving said plate,substantially as specified. v

14:. In a type-writing machine,the combination of a plurality of key-levers each having a stub, a spring-actuated swinging frame, a bar movably secured on said frame, said bar having notches in its edge facing said stubs whereby t-o form two or more surfaces for engagement with each stub, which surfaces are different distances from the stub, a shift-key, mechanism whereby the shift-key moves the bar upon said frame, and mechanism connecting said swingingframe with the escapement mechanism, substantially as specified.

l5. Ina type-writing machine,the combination of a plurality of key-levers each having a stub, a spring-actuated swinging frame, a

IIO

bar movably secured on said frame, said bar swinging frame with the escapement mec'nhaving two or more surfaces for engagement anism, substantially as specified. IO with each stub, which surfaces are different In testimony whereof I hereunto ax my distances from the stub, a spring for moving signature in the presence of two Witnesses.

5 said bar inonedireetion,ashiftkey,aWedge- CHARLES SEARS.

block operated thereby and engaging with` Witnesses: said bar, whereby it is moved in the contrary TROS. C. BRINKLEY, direction, and mechanism connecting said PHILIP E. KNOWLTON.

l f a if y A 

